Sand Masters
by Copper Thrice
Summary: Two well known, masters of sand meet in the mountains overlooking a desert.  Who will win in this confrontation?
1. Chapter 1: Marko Reflects

**Sand Masters  
**

By Copper Thrice

Well, ladies and gents, this is a story crafted from a half-hour of preparation at an SIU summer writing camp. So if it looks amateur… Guess what? It is.

D. and I crafted this story so… Enjoy!

Part 1) Marko Reflects

The sirens had long since died down. The feds, it seems, have finally given up. Marko Flint fell to his knees miserably and hung his head. In his hand he held a locket that contained his daughter's picture. It was her locket, but she had given it to him when they had last met.

The picture inside was worn and he grumbled to himself as he wiped sand out of the frame. He was of no use to her now— his tragic, ill child, Penny Flint.

He stumbled on, through the slopes of the rocky mountains, his mind wandering farther than his feet carried his body. Wandering back to the city where he once had a home and a family, but then his child grew sickly and he turned to crime. One incident later, he was a hunted man.

He came to a stop at the base of a mountain, boulders jutted from the ground and sides like teeth. Marko leaned against one and slumped ungracefully against the boulder, dislodging chips off sand from his sides.

What he wanted was to let go: lose all form and be as base as the individual sand particles that he was made off. Sand, everywhere, but without purpose.

He'd just drawn in a fresh and much desired breath of relief, when he heard a voice come from nearby.

"Sand Coffin!" it yelled.

Marko stood erect, only to see himself beginning to be swallowed by sand particles that felt foreign to him, it wasn't normal sand. He couldn't control it…

And it enveloped his body.


	2. Chapter 2: Gaara's Mission

**Sand Masters**

By Copper Thrice

Part 2: Gaara's Mission

Hidden behind a boulder, a red-haired teen with leather armor and a giant gourd on his back, emerged from behind the boulder to continue his assault. He had Marko, the fugitive from the U.S. trapped in his Sand Coffin.

Gaara allowed a ghost of a grin to pass his lips.

"Easy," he thought, "Too easy."

Gaara had received this mission as the final test from his home village's council: The Sand Village Council. It was Gaara's newfound passion to become a Kazekage, or village leader. The Council didn't like the idea to become Kazekage, so they sent him off on dangerous tasks; in hopes that he would not come back alive.

The Council had said that this was Gaara's final task: Accomplish an A-rank mission on his own. The mission was to capture or kill Marko Flint.

"I'll break his arms and legs," Gaara thought, "The people back home wouldn't want a killer for a leader."

Gaara held out his arms to control his sand. "Sand Burial!" he yelled as his focus caused the sand around Marko's arms and legs to compress and…

And go straight through him.

"What the…" Gaara thought, "What's going on?" Then his eyes widened slightly as Marko dissolved into sand particles, and then reassembling a yard away from where Gaara had him trapped.

Gaara grit his teeth and thought, "The Council didn't mention anything like this…"

Marko looked straight at Gaara, eyes full of anger.

The fight had begun


	3. Chapter 3: Desert Miracle

**Sand Masters**

By Copper Thrice

Part 3- Desert Miracle

On another mountaintop, not too far away, stood many of the members of the Sand Village Council. Through binoculars, they viewed Gaara's battle with Marko "The Sandman" Flint.

"Perfect," One elderly member said, "Soon Gaara will be no more." The others nodded in agreement.

On the mountainside, Marko unleashed his fury as he focused sand particles into his arm, making it grow in size.

"Why won't you people leave me alone!?" he yelled and threw his huge sand-fist at Gaara.

Gaara's outstretched arms crossed and a shield of sand emerged to block the powerful blow. The impact caused Gaara's shield to shudder.

Marko pulled his fist back and yelled again, his fury a raging sandstorm. He unleashed his sand at Gaara, who responded in kind with his own special sand from his gourd.

The two waves of sand hit each other in mid-air. The battle was unlike anything man has ever seen before. This battle was not fought with fists and kicks, but by individual grains of sand.

Many sand particles were under Gaara's influence, supercharged with his energy. Gaara continuously gatered material from the ground to make more sand to add to the fray, but it did not carry as much strength as his special sand.

Marko, however carried enormous amounts of sand, each with an equal share of power and influence. In order to continue his assault, Marko dissolved into a torrent of sand and joined the fight.

Gaara was hopelessly outnumbered. Everytime, a grain of sand that he had empowered ran out of energy, Marko took it over and it raged against Gaara.

Soon, he was surrounded by Marko's sand. Gaara had to focus more on his shield and whatever grains he possessed, but he was constantly losing ground. In frustration, he did what his mentor had always told him not to do:

Shed his Sand Armor.

Most people said it was impossible, but Gaara had learned how to dissolve his armor as a back-up plan.

The problem was…

If Marko got at least one grain past his Sand Shield…

He would probably kill Gaara.

Gaara performed the hand gestures that released his armor. A new flurry of sand tore off his body. Absorbing Gaara's energy and power since Gaara's birth, it lifted off him and joined the fray.

You see, it had been grafted onto him as a protection when he was born.

With a yell Gaara released his new sand attack…

To no avail.

One by One, Ten by Ten, Hundreds by Hundreds… Gaara's sand grains had fallen to Marko. Gaara looked around to see that his shield was barely holding and his extra sand had already fallen. His shoulders drooped in distress.

The shield began to buckle and Gaara closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

Then it rained.

Gaara could hear it, no, feel it. Rain. Sinking though his shield and dissolving it into mush. Gaara then noticed that the attack had stopped.

He looked around to see that Marko had backed off and was back to human form. He stared at his arms and hands as the dissolved into a dark, sandy mush. He yelled as the rain poured harder and he began to dissolve quicker.

Thinking fast, Gaara took his water gourd and popped the top off it. Quickly, he used his hands to jam Marko's dissolving, sandy head into the gourd.

Marko struggled back, but then Gaara forced the cap of his gourd back on. Marko's body then dissolved into slush and rolled down the mountain.

Gaara breathed a sigh of relief and sat next to a boulder, using string from his multi-purpose kit to keep the cap on the gourd.

Gaara then held out his hand and watched as water flowed across it. He had never felt water on his bare skin before, his armor was always on him. When the rain stopped, it would probably return. Gaara leaned back and let rain fall down his face.

It felt good.

"Time to go home," he thought, "Heh, home. That seems like a good idea."


	4. Epilogue

**Sand Masters**

By Copper Thrice

Epilogue

The gourd sat on Gaara's shelf in his office, as a sign of his capability and power. In the month that followed his victory, he had received the title of Kazekage by the reluctant Sand Village Council.

However, slowly, water evaporates.

A maid found the gourd on the floor and picked it up. It was empty.

So she grabbed some water and some sand and put it in the gourd.

Gaara found out and stood up and took a walk out of his office.

He stood on top of the building that held his quarters and his office. There he waited.

Soon, a cloud of sand appeared before him and Marko materialized before him.

Marko rose a fist of sand in anger, but then stopped as Gaara held up something.

Penny's locket

Gaara threw it Marko, who caught it and stared at it with a tender look on his face.

"I have no quarrel with you," said Gaara, "Leave in peace."

Marko just stared at Gaara for a bit, and then grinned. He dissolved into sand and flowed away in the winds.

Gaara turned to go back to his office, a small grin on his face.

The maid, who had seen all of the rooftop meeting, moved out of Gaara's way.

"Truly," she thought with a grin, "He will become a great leader."

Well, thanks for reading! Once again, tahnks to D. for her work on the first chapter and epilogue.

Later,

Copper Thrice


End file.
